Table 2.

Elements of policy

Source: Adapted from Cashore and Howlett (2007: 536) and Cashore 2020

	Policy level
	High-level abstraction	Operationalization	On-the-ground specifications
Policy content
Ends (Aims)	Goals What general types of ideas govern policy development? For example, advance human health, create economic growth, social cohesion	Objectives What does policy formally aim to achieve? For example, saving the most lives or personal years possible, minimizing preventing economic recession, minimizing job losses	Settings What are the specific on-the-ground requirements? For example, # of days in quarantine, # of household visitors a day, rules government types of business that can open, and # of customers per day; level of temperature forbidding entry
Means (Instruments)	Intervention Logic What general norms guide policy instrument preferences? For example, command and compliance, hierarchy, markets, voluntary, networks	Tools What types of instruments are utilized? For example, regulatory tools for opening or closing business, education or financial incentives	Calibrations What are the specific ways in which the instrument is applied? For example, types and severity of punishment, method of distributing tax breaks or subsidies, contact tracing apps that store individual names